Irani is out: LA Times says the longtime Occidental Petroleum (OXY+3.2%) chairman withdraws as a nominee to serve a new term on the board, and is absent from today’s shareholder meeting. It's not known who will become the next chairman, but replacing Irani on the board is Edward Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and an assistant secretary of State. (earlier)

During Irani's CEO reign he saw the company flat for 10 years then when oil started to rise in 2000 it went up about 8x (through very little effort of his just natural earnings with the most important rare commodity being the earner). He made about $billion in the last 10 years plus owns a $billion more in OXY stock. He also donated over $50,000 to the GOP in 2012. (repost after removing derogatory remark about the poor little man).